A Fake Twitter Account Attributed To Energy Minister Guitouni Raises Alarm

The Twitter account @GuitouniEnergy is in no case the one of the new Minister of Energy, Mustapha Guitouni, warns today his ministerial department. “Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni strongly condemns the usurpation of his identity by opening a false Twitter account in his name and without his knowledge to undermine his image and to purport false, defamatory and slanderous statements on his behalf,” the Energy ministry said on its Facebook page.

“The Minister of Energy denies all statements that were attributed to him in this false Twitter account opened on the evening of June 5th to 6th 2017 for clandestine and sordid purposes. 

It should also be noted that to date, Mr. Guitouni does not hold any account on social networks,” stressed the Department.

The false Twitter account was created by a certain Tommasso Debenedetti, an Italian who specializes in false information. Through the account attributed to Mr. Mustapha Guitouni, he published on Tuesday June 6th a statement saying that “Algeria offers Qatar its strong support in all areas.”

This false publication forced the Energy ministerial Department to clarify the situation by recalling that “only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is empowered to express its views on the foreign policy of Algeria”.

Algiers has not taken sides with any party. This morning the Foreign Ministry said it was following with “great concern the deterioration of relations between certain countries of the Gulf region and their repercussions on the unity and solidarity of the Arab world”. 

Algeria calls for “dialogue”, “wisdom” and respect for “principles of good neighborliness, non-interference in the internal affairs of States and respect for their national sovereignty”.

Hacker Tommasso Debenedetti is not at his first attempt. After the appointment of the new Government, he had already deceived the press by creating a false Twitter account attributed to Prime Minister Abdelmajid Tebboune. The account has, since then, been deleted.